The first signs of spring?

It's suppose to be really cold again from tomorrow onwards and beginning of next week, even snow. Would be nice to have some snow though, and it is still winter anyway! February from tomorrow onwards. I can't believe how quick the time is passing. We went to Gravesend today to get new school blazers for the boys. I hadn't realised that they did indeed grow in the past year. Danial's blazer is up from size 32 to 36 and Imran up from 30 to 34 (since September 2007). School Uniform is so expensive though, they cost me £35 each, plus £6 for the tie.

Already the 3rd week in January. Can't wait now for the days to get longer again! Its already a small improvement that we still seem to have daylight by 4:30 pm. Well, I have finished Spring Queen! Almost, anyway. All the cross stitch is done, now on the backstitch (not a lot, but I'd forgotten about it, I was about to start on the beading). Yeah, well, and the beading. I do not look forward to the beading! The Spring Queen is in rotation in another 5 weeks anyway. I actually copied the chart again, and coloured all the different beads in different highligher colours (I've done that while sitting in a very boring court case LOL!). That should make it easier, and the beading may turn out to be a nice change, who knows, maybe I'll enjoy it!

Small kits week - but I didn't make much progress on the labrador, despite having part of the week off work!

Update on the poodle from last week. This is so slow going. It just takes ages and I can't see any progress on the small fabric. What doesn't help as well is that the colours are all very similar, the area which appears light blue on the picture is indeed about 10 or so different colours of light blue. Even the 'white' has 3 different colours to it! I can't see a big difference now, but hopefully it will all come together when it's finished. I don't think it will be finished by Rachel's birthday in April this year!

Temperatures are just below freezing, and around the 0 Degree C in daytime. I was amazed to see that the little lakes across the road are indeed frozen over. Bonnie stepped onto them and slipped across, she was quite surprised by this strange happening to her 'watering hole' . Anyway, it is not frozen very deeply, so in places even Bonnie made it crack. I felt that there is even a little hint of spring already in the air today, despite the bleak landscape and frosted plants.

b And here are the first buds of spring!

Dean Koontz ' Intensity '

I once bought a whole lot of Dean Koontz' books at a car boot sale. I was rummaging in a box for Stephen King, and the woman seller asked me if I were also interested in Koontz if I liked King. So that's how I came to read my first Koontz book. I became to realize quickly though that his style is not similar to King at all! (or is it only me who doesn't think so). But he's grown on me.
This one is a great read and won't keep you bored.

'Intensity' is Young Girl vs. Psycho Killer. Chyna has come to her college's friends house to spend some holiday time with her. Chyna has plenty of emotinal baggage to carry from a difficult childhood, unlike her college pal Laura who seems to live the ideal happy life with her family. This idyll is about to be shattered, as a psycho killer breaks into the house and slaughters the family. Chyna's instinct and her difficult childhood have thought her to be careful, so she escapes. But when she realises that the killer has kidnapped Laura, she summonses all her strenght and follows the killer who came in a motorhome. And she soon learns that it was not entirely by chance that he came during that night. And while riding in his motorhome, she learns many more secrets about him, gruesome stuff.

Happy New Year everyone. Nafees went to Central London Trafalgar Square while I prefer to stay in with the children. I was 'on call' as well, and I'm not too good with large crowds like that. I went to bed around 1am, and Nafees was back around 3:30 hrs. There were plenty of trains running during the night. Unfortunately, we have a flat tyre on the care, so he had to take a taxi from the station. Got to sort out the tyre at the weekend.

This is my beautiful Secret Santa package from the 'Friendly Stitcher's' Yahoo Group. It was so lovely to receive a stitching related gift. The beautiful colours unfortunately don't come out on this picture. The purple set will be ideal for Lavender , me thinks.